


Forcing One Bloom, Displacing Another

by sanctum_c



Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Aeris takes matters into her own hands, Character Study, Childhood, Gardens & Gardening, Gen, Light-Hearted, Missing Scene, Parent-Child Relationship, Prayer, Pre-Canon, Serious, Water
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:00:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24917245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c
Summary: Something was different when she reached the house, the air thick with an unfamiliar scent. Aeris walked past the front door, following the dirt path to the river’s edge. The common insistence was nothing could or did grow in Midgar. Not entirely correct. Nothing could grow in the toxic, Mako and heavy-metal tainted soil, but places existed on the Upper Plate capable of desperately coaxing plants to grow on imported soil for sale at extortionate prices. The insistence also ignored the algae.Aeris finds fertile soil in the church and wants to make use of it. At the same time, the river is consumed by an algae bloom.
Kudos: 9





	Forcing One Bloom, Displacing Another

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt 'In Bloom'

The church was a discovery on one of Aeris’s many wanderings around Sector Five. So distinct from anything nearby; out of place and incongruous with the sector and Midgar as a whole. Stone walls, braced internally with wooden beams.

Wood! Once part of a tree and now here spanning the length and breadth of the church overheard; forming the floorboards and the splintery pews. Somewhere – perhaps sadly not any longer – were vast trees. Perhaps some could grow to the length of the church, but the ones used to build the church were not so huge. There were joins between the timbers; Aeris noted them first-hand when she followed the cracked and damaged stairs at the back of the church into the rafters.

Dizzyingly high above the ground. A more secret hideaway: few came to the church. Fewer still would risk venturing up to the ceiling like her. Particularly those in the slums who did not hold with the Upper Plate. Not for anything so pragmatic as its tendency to blot out the sun and plunge the slums into darkness or trap smoke and Mako fumes down here. No, they clung to the ground, uncomfortable with the idea of walking on a floating city, forever afraid of the plate giving out beneath their feet - and seemingly never concerned with the fate of those below in the hypothetical circumstance.

Aeris – and Elmyra – could not afford to take the train up to the Upper Plate. Rarely would anyone admit to the base costs of setting foot there. One day Aeris would go back. And better, she would get out of the city and see the wider space beyond Midgar. All those names and places from books and films; the excitement of the Gold Saucer, the vast Corel desert, the sun-stained vistas of Cosmo Canyon- When she was older. When she had a job and money.

Living in the slums required other preoccupations. A mundane feature of the church lead to unexpected possibilities. One of the floorboards was loose. The discovery lead swiftly – and inadvertently – to finding a way below. At the time the flexing floorboard was nothing but an entertaining noise and motion, Aeris resting all her weight onto one foot, the section of floor squeaking as she bounced.

With a heart-stopping crack, the floorboard broke and Aeris’s leg plunged down. The plummet stopped almost immediately; her shoes coated with dirt when she gingerly extracted her limb from the hole. Pain secondary now; there was a cavity beneath the floorboards, a bowl-like depression of dark brown – almost black – soil. Aeris dug into it, brushing the soil into a messy pile on one side of the cavity. The same, moist, dark soil as far as she could reach.

So different to the ground surrounding Mom’s house; coloured here and there with unnatural, metallic hues. Mom confided she wished for a garden, but nothing she planted ever grew; trying to transplant a living plant would choke the life out of it in a day. Could this offer a better chance? It looked more like the ground in her old picture books, in Mom’s tomes of flowers from places other than Midgar.

Worth a try.

Standing up sent a twinge from her knee and a trickle of blood slid down towards her ankle. Medical supplies at home should help – and Mom might still have some flower seeds. Visions of flowers filled her limping trip back. She could take some soil from the hole (did it have a limit, or did the aperture go on forever? If she was so inclined, could she scoop it out one handful at a time and gradually blanket the entirety of Midgar, turn the whole city green?) and bring it home. Coating or replacing the dead land around Mom’s house or placing it in a pot, the growing flowers safe from contact with the polluted soil.

Something was different when she reached the house, the air thick with an unfamiliar scent. Aeris walked past the front door, following the dirt path to the river’s edge. The common insistence was nothing could or did grow in Midgar. Not entirely correct. Nothing could grow in the toxic, Mako and heavy-metal tainted soil, but places existed on the Upper Plate capable of desperately coaxing plants to grow on imported soil for sale at extortionate prices. The insistence also ignored the algae.

Beside Mom’s house, the outlet from a storm drain thundered near continuously. Midgar was often afflicted with heavy rain, water building up to rush out into a river flowing down from the house, past the back of the church, into Sector Four and beyond. Drain water should be vile and wretched but some quirk of the city’s creation meant the water flowing out from the drains was clear and sweet. A shame it subsequently poured across the same polluted ground as rest of the Sector. But within the deluge a few tiny examples of plant-life hung on; algae. Most of it remained circling and spinning in the backwash from the falling water, hidden under the pipe where it lay across the water.

Tiny patches of swirling green. Sections would irregularly detach and wash away out of sight; what happened to these was a mystery. Nowhere else along the river’s path could Aeris find evidence of the algae. Best it found a home in Sector Four or beyond – assuming it could survive.

But everything had changed today; the river was deep red, the water thick with a different kind of algae. Aeris shivered in the growing darkness, holding her nose. Desperation had forced Mom to make use of the river water before – boiled and purified of course. Would any treatment make the red river safe?

Dinner was cooking when Aeris closed the front door behind her. “Mom-“

“Aeris, you didn’t go near the river did you?” Mom abandoned her work in the kitchen.

“No. What-“

Mom interrupted again. “Are you okay? Your leg-“ She changed direction and hurried to the medical kit. A whole case of bottled water stood on the kitchen counter. Expensive. Money was something Mom always seemed reluctant to discuss with her, but bits and pieces always leaked out. Why she steered Aeris towards the cheaper options late in the month, why Mom (allegedly) had dinner at some ill-defined later point Aeris never caught.

Perhaps if she could grow flowers, she could help. “Do you still have any seeds?”

“I might. You want to give it a shot too?” Mom crouched beside her on her haunches, smiling. Aeris nodded; Mom applied the antiseptic and plaster. Rummaging in a cupboard uncovered a handful of near empty paper packets each depicting a glorious flower against grass – somewhere sunny. “Don’t get your hopes up to much though.”

“I won’t.” Too late to head back to the church now; Aeris carried the seed packets up to her room and settled in with Mom for the evening, curiously confident about the church soil.

The river was still a deep, painful red the next morning; the new algae persisted unlike those tiny flecks of green from before. The cavity in the church was little changed, the damp soil still cool and soft in her hands. A new conundrum: how best to do this?

The base practical considerations of growing flowers were simple enough. Take a flower seed, bury it in soil with enough depth and space. Add water with care and wait until it grew. The authors and gardens depicted in those books were out under the open blue sky, or where the soil was a uniform - and safe - brown colour. No heavy metal taint, or clump of soil existing beneath the floor of a church.

Should she bury the seeds in the aperture? Plenty of room, but flowers needed light. A quirk of the city, the Sector and the church ensured golden sunlight would shine through the stained glass and illuminate the wooden floor. How much might hit a potential flower below the floorboards was unclear. And soil usually went in pots not in the ground. No pots; Mom might have some still back home, but Aeris wanted to plant the seeds now.

Compromise of sorts; Aeris leant down and heaved up handfuls of soil, lost clumps spattering the floor as she lifted it to form an uneven mound. All too soon Aeris was leaning into the hollow, only able to brush the top of the soil with her fingertips. If she wanted anything more she would have to clamber down. And run the risk of lowering the soil to the point she could not get back out again. Aeris shivered. Horrible thought; trapped under the floor and all her own fault.

Hopefully the clump was big enough. With little notion of what might grow best in these less than hospitable circumstances, Aeris resorted to placing at least one of each type of seed across the mound. In between these, another seed of each. And a third- Too many might make it difficult to grow and flourish. Planting complete. Now water. Aeris winced. It would need to be the bottled water from home; no way to trust the river water for growing her flowers.

Did the seeds need watering immediately, or would they be okay for today if she returned tomorrow? Could she do anything in the meantime? She flopped to the floor. No movement or any indication she had done anything right or wrong with her planting. The small mound of soil remained undisturbed.

Mother – her other mother from before – had said something when she was younger. Something about how she used to grow things before Shinra found her. Something about talking to the Planet, or conversing with it? If so, how did it work? Aeris frowned until her forehead hurt. Nothing she could recall except talking to, or conversing with, the Planet. Would it be something like Mother’s voice in those few days after Aeris arrived in the slums – or when she knew about Mom’s partner, much to Mom’s distress?

No response to her thoughts. How about speaking?

“Okay.” Her voice so small in the stillness. She knelt up and laid both her hands on the soil. “Hi Planet. I don’t know if you remember me, but my name is Aeris. You talked to me when my mother died or maybe you let my mother talk to me? And I think you told me about Mom’s wife returning to the Planet? It’s been some time since then and I hope you are well. That sounds really selfish, but I do mean it. Anyway, I am trying to grow some flowers which people keep saying is impossible in the city, but I wanted to try. So, if you can help them grow I would be really grateful.”

Aeris carefully peeked out of one eye. The clump of soil remained unchanged. No forest of fresh flowers or wave of spindly green indicating new growth. Nothing had changed. Maybe because she cheated? Or did it still take some time?

She returned with the remains of a bottle of water the next day. No watering can to be had here – little need for them in the slums – and Aeris resorted to punching holes in the cap and shaking water down onto the mound. She tried a new conversation with the Planet. Still no flowers.

“How long do flowers take to grow?” The third day of no appreciable change in the church, but an ever increasing choking of the river by the algae.

“Gosh.” Mom frowned, pausing mid-way through making dinner. “I think the quickest I know of take sixty days or so?”

“Sixty!” Fifty-seven more days until she knew if anything she did was working?

“I know dear. Sorry. Just got to hope your patience pays off.”

Daunting to say the least. Aeris made the trip to the church every day to sprinkle more of the family’s desperately needed water across the mound of soil. Not a waste. Mom knew she was growing the flowers. Admittedly not certain if she knew she was using the bottled water for this purpose. But what else could she do? The water from the river- The river-

She carefully set the bottle down and ducked her head down towards the soil. Inhale, exhale, sniff hard- There. Faint, but something there. Beyond the earthy smell of the soil. The river. Of course. The river flowed past the church and was somehow reaching the soil cavity. It had tainted the soil before she lifted it out.

Pointless?

A prickle of tears in her eyes, a lump in her throat. She tried so hard, hoped she might succeed where Mom failed; with the Planet's help- Wait. Aeris brushed at the falling tears with her fingers. Was her request the problem? She tried to get the Planet to help her with the flowers, but the algae, the poison in the river leeched into the soil. Maybe all she was doing was stopping the flowers from dying off. Maybe she could ask the Planet for some help with the algae?

Mom was out when she made it back home and the location of the house effectively screened it off from the rest of the Sector. Good enough. Aeris ducked under the rails bordering the land and down to what passed for a riverbank, now stained red. She should avoid the water. Not drink it. Not swim in it (not like she knew how). Not touch it. But touch always seemed to be such a big part of everything. Mom’s hugs, mother’s hugs, the feel of the soil, freshly laundered sheets-

If this was to work at all, she needed to touch the water. Perhaps if she washed her hands after? Aeris crouched low and gingerly rested her hands on the water. Cold, wet- Somehow she expected more. Burning or stinging; a sense of wrongness, of the red in the water. But her touch revealed little but water.

“Hi Planet. It’s me, Aeris, again. I know I’ve been asking you for help with growing my flowers, and thank you for everything you have been doing. And I kind of am still asking for help with that, but at the same time-“ A complex issue. But surely indiscriminate growth was also bad? “Can you help get rid of some plants? I don’t want to ask this too much or anything – it feels wrong. But the algae in the water is making it unsafe. And I think it might be hurting the flowers in the church. So if you could help get rid of it, that would really help.”

She risked looking. The river water was still red. Unfair to expect an instant response on this too. Aeris struggled to her feet, hands held out either side to not touch anything. Now to get them clean. Difficult to fish out her key, difficult to open the lock without handling the objects properly. Everything would need washing with soap. Possibly the soap too-

But what if the Planet couldn’t do anything? The algae was in the water and needed removal. Poisoning might work, but she was unsure how to and could cause more problems down the river – including at the church. Essentially she needed to remove the algae. Her gaze alighted on the sieve hanging up with the other pots and pans. Something similar, to collect up the algae and throw into the trash. Tempting to use the one here, but Mom used the sieve for rice and vegetables. Eating with it after using it in the river did not seem a good idea.

She set out the next day with her meagre savings. Sieves were cheap; a handful of gil for a shiny new one and a broom handle and heavy-duty tape to help reach further. Back home, sieve and broom handle combined; she strained the river water.

Slow and arduous work. Despite initial fears, traces of the red algae did catch in the sieve. Not a huge amount, but there was now a fraction less algae in the river. Aeris swept her sieve through the running water and scraped what she caught into a refuse sack. Repeat. The algae content of the river went down by some amount. When her arms ached from exertion and repetitive movements, Aeris knelt down, palms flat against the water and again asked for the Planet’s help. Quick clean up at home and she went to the church, watered the soil mound, and talked to the Planet again.

No sign of growth still. Nothing to worry about, but hard to shake off the desire to dig down into the mound, find out if the seeds had changed any in the damp, dark soil. No. Patience would be key. Same with her work on the algae.

Aeris persisted another week, the river still red, the mound of dirt in the church still lacking in any growth. Perhaps she was still misunderstanding how the Planet’s influence worked? Or if it worked at all. Too many stories from other children in the slums where convenient lies hid away unpleasant or uncomfortable realities. Was her Mother’s story about helping the Planet something similar? Not so much growing new life (a function of nature if given the right circumstances), but the attempt to diminish the red algae?

Or perhaps; she asking the Planet to diminish a growth – however harmful – was not something it would countenance. Weeds were harmful; thriving at the expense of other plant life. Should the Planet intervene in these cases or the decision remain with her? Should she seek a different solution? Maybe not ask the Planet to get rid of plants, but instead to produce new plants to supplant them. To eat up the red algae in favour of green? One of the books Mom owned detailed plants capable of trapping and consuming insects. Could a similar principal apply to consuming other plants?

Aeris sieved the red algae once again, straining what she could from the water and dumping the damp redness. After, she knelt down and placed her palms on the water.

“Hi Planet. I’ve decided to try something different. I don’t want you to get rid of the algae – not sure if you can or not. But I’d like to bring the green algae back. And I’d like to make the green algae stop the red algae. If that makes sense. Make the green absorb all the badness and I’ll get rid of it.”

The next day a patch of green swirled and circled around the water falling into the river. The Planet seemed to have listened. A tiny patch of green surrounded by the red. How would this work? She could sieve out the green algae, but it had only now appeared. She sieved at the red, repeating her request to the Planet. The next day the patch of green had grown larger, the red pushed back toward the edges of the river. Some of the patch seemed an off colour. “I’ll take these parts away.”

Clumsily and with multiple mistakes, Aeris extracted the red-tinged green algae and as much of the red as she could manage. The next day the green patch was bigger still. She repeated the process, greenery returning to the river. A week later and only patches of red still blighted the river, the water clear beneath the floating green algae. Green clumps now separated off to sail further down the river – hopefully to consume any red algae it found.

Aeris still checked the river each day, sieving away discolouration, though the necessity became more and more infrequent. The cluster of algae flourished where the water fell, smaller clumps building up outside the flow. The water was clear once more. She continued her mantra to the Planet, thanked it for its assistance. And three weeks after the red algae diminished, the first of numerous green growths broke the surface in the church. Aeris tended to them faithfully, anxious for the day they would bloom.


End file.
